Femina Hindi to hit newsstands in November

Femina, which recently celebrated its 50th year with a jumbo 560-paged special anniversary issue, is all set to launch its Hindi edition. Femina Hindi is expected to hit newsstands in the first week of November this year. As in the case of Femina English, Femina Hindi would be a monthly magazine and would be priced at Rs 40. The magazine would be available across North, West and Eastern India.

Elaborating on Femina Hindi, Tarun Rai, CEO, World Wide Media (WWM), said, “We want to expand the audience of Femina, and reaching out to audiences that are comfortable in other Indian languages is one way to expand the audience. The other is to work on Femina online, which we are working on simultaneously. The quality of content is as good as Femina’s. It is our strong belief that no other Hindi women’s magazine is offering the quality that Femina Hindi will offer. We also believe that Femina Hindi will be a huge success at the top end of the segment, and in terms of readers, be even bigger than Femina English.”

Rai further said, “We plan to launch Femina in other regional languages soon, staring with Tamil.”

On the marketing initiative, he said, “We plan to market Femina Hindi aggressively through both ATL activities and point of sale. We are also planning trade initiatives to push circulation. The key markets are the North, Kolkata and the West.”

Speaking on audience, Rai said, “It is not just about the youth, I think there is a greater confidence that Indians have in themselves. And that is reflected in their confidence in the language they speak. In media, TV and radio have understood this already.”

It has taken Femina a long time to come out with a Hindi edition. Giving the reason for this, Rai said, “For one, there was enough to do with Femina English. It kept evolving and growing. While the evolution will continue, I feel this is the right time to leverage the strength of Femina, the brand, and make a quantum increase in its reach. The other important reason is the increasing purchasing power of the Hindi speaking audience. Advertisers are today looking for media vehicles to reach the top end of this audience, and Femina Hindi is ideal. We have had an excellent response from some of the top advertisers in the country for our first issue.”

Tanya Chaitanya, Editor, Femina, said, “India is changing, and I believe, many issues – relationships, health, careers, beauty, fashion – are issues that concern the Indian woman of today, irrespective of the language she speaks. Femina Hindi’s objective is to be a platform for women to discuss and understand these issues.”

According to an official statement, Femina sees a huge opportunity in coming out with a quality magazine in Hindi as there is a big market at the top end of the Hindi speaking women’s segment. This is a large segment with immense purchasing power that many advertisers would be keen to access.

Speaking on women’s magazines in Hindi, Nikhil Rangnekar, Executive Director, West, Starcom India, said, “If you look at women’s magazines in Hindi, magazines such as Griha Shobha and Sarita have the maximum readership. However, there is a space for a magazine like Femina Hindi, which might definitely work in the market. Femina Hindi will bring some kind of difference in terms of content that they will be providing to the readers.”

Harish Shriyan, Managing Partner, OMD, observed, “Most of the titles now are available in different languages, and Hindi is a vast market. However, Femina is an established name and is not dependent on any edition in another language for further brand presence. That said, in today’s scenario, it is never too late to compete with new offerings – there is always scope for new initiatives.”